The Mayor's Marathon in Anchorage Alaska is always held on the Saturday closest to the summer solstice.
The race uses an incredibly scenic and varied course with a wide variety of surfaces.
Roughly, the course breaks down as follows:
Mile 0-1: Start at high school track and run on road
Mile 1-4: Run on paved path along Glenn Highway to Fort Richardson turnoff. There is a soft shoulder available. Scenic views to your left inside the army base (woods, mostly), but a highway on your right. Drivers do honk in support though!
Mile 4-7: Run on paved roads with little traffic (but not closed) on the Army base. Uphill seems to go on forever at the end. Very scenic stream here.
Mile 7-14: Run on gravel road (the tank trail) on the Army base - this is a wide gravel road with some rolling hills. Not as scenic as I would have expected, but still a nice quiet run.
Mile 14-15: Run on singletrack trail to Far North Bicentennial Park - I liked this section the best, it was nice and easy, and very scenic with a few streams.
Mile 15-19: Run on a quiet paved road, and then on the sidewalk of a busy road (Tudor), and then on a bike path along Tudor.
Mile 19-21: Run on some sidewalk, some bike path, and along some ponds through the university area to the Chester Creek Greenbelt
Mile 21-25: Run on the paved Chester Creek Greenbelt to the Westchester Lagoon - this was really nice, with a soft shoulder on the side, and several lakes that you ran around. Near Goose Lake, the trail is unpaved, and is a nice spot to let loose with some trail running.
Mile 25-25.5: Finishing up on the beautiful Westchester Lagoon trail, which you almost make a circle of.
Mile 25-26: Run/walk up a steep hill to the turn for the high school, follow some school parking lots
Mile 26-26.2: Finish on high school track.
